The NCAA News - News and Features

June 8, 1998

Preseason games scholar-athletes announced

Ten winners of the annual NACDA Preseason Games Scholar-Athlete Awards have been announced by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).

The winners, chosen from 353 nominees, each will receive a $5,000 grant to be used toward postgraduate studies. The total of $50,000 in scholarships is funded by proceeds from NACDA's two preseason football games, the Kickoff and Pigskin Classics.

The NACDA Foundation has awarded more than $7.1 million in scholarships since 1983.

The winners will receive their awards at NACDA's 33rd annual convention June 14-17. The ceremony will occur June 16 during the NACDA Scholarship Awards Luncheon, presented by Sears. Dan Fouts of ABC Sports will serve as master of ceremonies.

The 10 NACDA Preseason Games Scholar-Athletes are:

Margaret Boutilier, Virginia, lacrosse; David Ciesla, Arkansas Tech, baseball; Jennifer Erdos, Allegheny, swimming; Pat Garrity, Notre Dame, basketball; Robert Gray, MIT, football; Chad Kessler, LSU, football; Dominic Lanza, Dartmouth, football; Jeremy Lindley, Southern Mississippi, football; Peyton Manning, Tennessee, football; and Janelle Tranquillo, Ball State, field hockey.

"These 10 winners, and all the nominees, are truly representative of the hard work and spirit of collegiate student-athletes," said C. William Byrne, chair of the NACDA Honors and Awards Committee and the director of athletics at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Athletes from all sports are eligible for these awards. Each of the 353 nominees had a minimum grade-point average of 3.000 or above (4.000 scale) in undergraduate study, was named to at least the all-America or all-conference team in their respective sports, and were in their final year of athletics eligibility.

A blue-ribbon panel -- including outstanding education, business and industry leaders who have made many positive contributions to amateur athletics at the collegiate and Olympic levels -- voted on the finalists.

Their ballots were sent to Price Waterhouse, which tabulated the votes and determined the winners.

Members of the panel were Gary Bender, TNT Sports; Greg Gumbel, NBC Sports; Keith Jackson, ABC Sports; Dick Kazmaier, president, Kazmaier Associates, Inc., and 1951 Heisman Trophy winner; Donna Lopiano, executive director, Women's Sports Foundation; Robert Mulcahy, athletics director, Rutgers; Joyce Myers, president, women's sports division, Host Communications; Robin Roberts, ESPN; Richard D. Schultz, executive director, United States Olympic Committee; Roger Staubach, president, The Staubach Company, and 1963 Heisman Trophy winner; and George Steinbrenner, owner, New York Yankees and vice-president, U.S. Olympic Committee.

Because funding for the scholarships comes from proceeds from the Kickoff and Pigskin Classics, five of the 10 scholarships are awarded to football players (three in Division I-A and two in other divisions), and the other five are awarded to student-athletes in other sports.